ELEC825 Team

ELEC825’s leadership is directed by professionals with years of experience in the building industry and construction trades.

Greg Lalevee

ELEC825 Chairman

Greg Lalevee, ELEC825 Chairman

ELEC825 Chairman Greg Lalevee is the Business Manager of IUOE Local 825 and also serves as a Vice President of the IUOE’s General Executive Board.

A second-generation operating engineer, he worked as a crane operator from 1984 through 2000 when he became Local 825’s first organizer. In 2010 he was appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to serve on the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority and is a trustee of NJ SEED, a labor management coalition that supports economic development in the state. He is a vice president of the N.J. Building Trades and a member of the State of New Jersey’s Licensed Crane Operators Advisory Board.

Mark Longo

ELEC825 Director

Mark Longo, ELEC825 Director

Mark Longo brings more than 20 years in government affairs and building trades public affairs to the ELEC825 organization.

Prior to his appointment, he served as Director of Government Affairs and Political Action for IUOE Local 825 from 1999 to 2012. There, he was responsible for legislative and political education programs in Trenton, Albany and Washington, DC, and for administering the Political Action Committee.

Before joining Local 825 in 1999, he served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Building and Construction Trades Labor Management Council. He also served as Director of Public Relations and Government Affairs for the Building Contractors Association of New Jersey.

Kate Gibbs

Business Development

Kate Gibbs, Business Development

Kate Gibbs joined ELEC825 in 2014 after serving five years as Executive Director and Fundraiser for a successful political organization and an event planner and membership-relations consultant for a statewide trade association.

She has established a strong record of building networks, establishing strategies and tactics that include branding, communications and social media in pursuit of prior organizational goals. With her background in politics, public affairs and organizational management, Gibbs is uniquely suited to help ELEC825 achieve its core objectives of creating jobs for Local 825 members and its union contractors.

Gibbs graduated cum laude in 2008 with a BA in Public Communications and Political Science from The American University in Washington, DC. In March 2014 she earned an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Drexel University LeBow College of Business.

Daniel Ortega

Community Affairs

Daniel Ortega, Community Affairs

Daniel Ortega joined the ELEC825 staff in October 2014. Prior to joining ELEC825, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Assemblyman Carmelo Garcia of Hoboken and as a Field Coordinator for Compassion and Choices of Camden.

Before that, Ortega served as Chief of Staff to the Mayor of West New York, Communications Specialist to the West New York Board of Education and Executive Director of the Bergen County Democratic Organization.

He was selected to office and served as a commissioner of the Hackensack Housing Authority from 2006 to 2010; of the Bergen County Housing Authority from 2007 to 2010; and as a state committeeman of the NJ Democratic State Committee from 2005 to 2010.

Ortega earned a BA in political science from William Paterson University in 2006 and an MS in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2010. He is a resident of West New York.

Michael Makarski

External Affairs

Michael Makarski, External Affairs

Prior to joining ELEC825 in February 2018, he served at Senior Director of Public Affairs at MWWPR, one the largest privately owned public relations firms in the country.

Makarski creates direct mail, radio commercials, television commercials, internet video, internet advertising, and traditional advertising. He is a Reed Award recipient for his political television commercials and direct mail campaigns. In addition, he specializes in coalition building, event coordination, traditional media relations and third-party mobilization.

Makarski has served as a consultant and advisor on races for the U.S. Senate, Congress, State Senate, Assembly and dozens of local offices. In 2008, he himself was elected to his local Board of Education as the youngest member ever to serve that community.

He earned a BA in Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Jen Rachaner

Member Relations, Reimbursements and Drug Testing

Jennifer Rachaner, Member Relations, Reimbursements and Drug Testing

Jennifer Rachaner joined the ELEC825 staff in November 2015. Prior to that time, she amassed nearly twenty years' experience working on political campaigns in Dallas, TX, and in Bergen County, NJ. She also served in a variety of roles within Bergen County Government.

At ELEC825, she utilizes her organizational experience by managing the office and assisting Local 825 members with credential reimbursements and the alcohol/drug testing program.

Rachaner graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Texas, Dallas, in 2002. She is a proud resident of Jersey City.